The invention relates to a device for coating disc-shaped information storage media with a coating medium whereby a drying station for drying the applied coating medium is provided that has an ultraviolet (UV) lamp.
Disc-shaped information storage media are, for example, compact discs (CDs), magneto-optical discs, CD-ROMs, CD-Rs, photo and/or video discs. In the following these discs are referred to as disc-shaped information storage media or storage media for short.
Devices of the aforementioned kind are produced and distributed by the assignee of this patent. FIG. 3 shows a schematic representation of the device, respectively, of the sequence of the coating and drying process at the respective stations of such a device.
A supply station 1 transfers the disc-shaped information storage media 2 to a manipulation device 3, in the shown embodiment a so-called process cup gripper, having gripper arms 4,5 facing the supply station 1 which grip the storage media 2 provided by the supply station 1 and transport them to the coating stations 6,7 of a processing unit 8. After coating of the storage media 2 with a coating medium, for example, a coating lacquer, the storage media 2 are transported with gripper arms 10,11 facing the drying station 9 to a receiving position 12 from where they are transported into a drying chamber 13. In the drying chamber 13 a non-represented rod-shaped UV lamp is provided above the rotating storage medium 2 in order to dry or cure the coating medium. The heat generated in the drying chamber 13 by the UV lamp is removed by a (non-represented) air suction or recirculating device.
After the drying process the storage medium 2 is removed from the drying chamber 13 and brought into a position 14 within the drying station where a further gripper 15 grips it and transports it to the receiving station 16.
The above disclosed coating device for disc-shaped information storage media have been used with great success for producing such storage media.
From EP 0 449 018 A2 a radiation device for drying and/or curing of paints or lacquers by a UV lamp is known which are provided in the form of plates or circular concentric tubes. The embodiments of such radiation devices are selected with respect to the function of the radiation device itself, but not with respect to the shape or optimal irradiation of an object to be irradiated.
The invention has therefore the object to further improve coating devices for disc-shaped information storage media and, especially, to provide devices which, per time unit, allow for more coating steps, are more reliable and require less downtime, and provide a reduced manufacturing and servicing expenditure especially for the drying station.